"Come on girl!"

So Saturday came another brick workout at the American Tobacco Trail (funny name for a place where you go to get in shape). Anyway, it was a doozy again. It was a 30 mile ride plus a 4 mile run. Oh what a ride. Very scenic. Country roads and lake views abound. I was biking mainly with one and then later another teammate as well. We averaged about 18mph. I tried to ride strong but with the run in mind as well. I pushed myself. I had a steady ride. No chain dropping. Ingested a Gu- chocolate and 2 Nuun bottles on the ride. I went straight into the run and though it was a flat course found myself to be in search of that finish line towards the last 2 miles of the run. I am still learning how to pace myself. I need to leave some room for the swim as well and there was no way that would have happened after the bike/run. I was spent and ready to down several cold chocolate milks. Unfortunately, I missed my daughter's soccer game. I don't like that. I will make next week's for sure.

And then came Sunday- my first ever lake swim. Keep in mind, I just came off a hard workout yesterday. We met around up at Falls Lake about 30 minutes from where I live. I was excited for my first lake swim. I love being out in nature and all this biking and swimming outdoors is right up my alley. Oh what an experience I had...and not the one I was hoping for.

Coaches Tom and Joe were there plus 2 other of my teammates. Most of them were wearing wet suits as the air temps were only low 70's. I dressed in my swimsuit and bike shorts. Coach Tom went with one of my teammates in his kayak. Coach Joe swam with Cindy and me. I surveyed the lake and thought how pretty it was and then it came time to swim. "Come on girl," yelled Joe. "Let's get going!" And with that I dove in and started swimming from Point A to B which I must admit was a bit far away. I didn't think too much about it though and just got going. Well, about 2 minutes into it, I felt exasperated! I popped my head up and saw that I had still had quite a ways to go to reach Point B. And then it came...fear. Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into I thought. So I started treading. Coach Joe was swimming away from me and Cindy. Thankfully, his girls were in a kayak not far from us but overall I wasn't feeling too great about the situation I was in- smack in the middle of this vast body of water- no bottom to touch or edge to hold onto when I needed a little rest. I was out there!

No one told me how tough my first open water swim might be. Much like no one tells you that breastfeeding can feel like a bunch of needles piercing you all at once. Much like that getting pregnant doesn't happen just because you want it to. But I digress...to give you an idea of how my first open water lake swim went, check out this article. It just about sums up my initial ignorance and then wide-eyed fear once I had started and found myself smack out in the middle of this big body of water:

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/open-water-swim/

But, I survived to tell the tale. We swam .7 miles but it may as well have been 10+ to me. I did feel myself starting to relax a little by the time we got from point C back home but I use the term "relaxed" loosely i.e. I was no longer in a complete panic. So there you go...another day another training and somehow, someway, I am sure I am better for it!